Generation and tracking of referrals in receipts

ABSTRACT

Introduced is a technology for facilitating a referral between a referrer and a referee, including the generation of the referral and the tracking of the referral redemption by the referee. The technology enables a customer to send a referral about a merchant to a friend by simply providing contact information associated with that friend (e.g., email address, telephone number, etc.), and further enables the friend to redeem a promotional offer included in the referral upon a use of the friend&#39;s payment card at the merchant&#39;s point-of-sale (POS) system, without having to provide any further information. In some instances, a transfer of a referral reward (e.g., points, discount, payment, etc.) is also transferred to the referrer in response to the redemption by the referee.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/529,024, filed on Oct. 30, 2014, the entirecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Merchants often utilize referral programs as a marketing tool toincrease new customer business. Referral programs generally provideexisting customers the ability to earn rewards points and/or discountsby referring new customers to a merchant. In a traditional approach, amerchant typically invites the existing customer to share a hyperlink toa website of the merchant or other online information about themerchant, e.g., on a social network of the existing customer. Upondetection of access to the hyperlink (e.g., when a friend clicks thehyperlink posted on an existing customer's social media page), theexisting customer receives a reward from the merchant, for example.

One problem with this traditional approach is that the tracking andmaintenance of different referrals can be burdensome. For example, thehyperlink may be re-sharable by other people, and therefore may notnecessarily be unambiguously associated with the existing customer. Assuch, the customer may not benefit when the hyperlink is accessed.Further, tracking of referrals can be complicated when it comes tooffline transactions at physical merchant locations where there is noactivation of a hyperlink to detect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The techniques introduced here may be better understood by referring tothe following Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numerals indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which the referral technology canbe implemented.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of facilitating areferral with use of a payment card.

FIGS. 3A-3B illustrate examples of various screen displays that can begenerated by a referrer's computing device to enable initiation ofgeneration of a referral.

FIG. 4 illustrates examples of various screen displays that can begenerated by a referrer's computing device to enable submission ofreferrer and referee information to generate a referral.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing components of a payment service systemfor implementing the referral technology.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of database tables maintained by a paymentservice system to facilitate a referral.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a screen display that can be generatedby a referee's computing device to enable redemption of a referral.

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram of a computer system as can be usedto implement features of at least some embodiments of the referraltechnology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Technology is disclosed herein for facilitating a referral, of apromotional offer of goods or services, from a referrer to a referee,including generation of the referral and tracking of referral redemption(collectively referred to herein as “the referral technology”). Thereferral technology enables a customer to send a referral about amerchant to another person (e.g., a friend or relative) by simplyproviding contact information associated with that other person (e.g.,email address), and further enables the other person to redeem apromotional offer included in the referral automatically upon use ofthat other person's payment card at the merchant's point-of-sale (POS)system, without having to provide any further information. The term“payment card” as used herein refers to a payment mechanism associatedwith a physical card, such as a conventional credit card, debit card, orstored value card, a so-called “smartcard” that has an embeddedintegrated circuit chip (e.g., Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) cards), ora card that functions as a combination of any of these mechanisms.

Note that references in this description to “an embodiment”, “oneembodiment”, or the like, mean that the particular feature, function,structure or characteristic being described is included in at least oneembodiment of the present disclosure. Occurrences of such phrases inthis specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.On the other hand, the embodiments referred to also are not necessarilymutually exclusive.

In some embodiments, the referral technology involves communicationbetween a payment service application installed on a merchant's POSsystem and a remote payment service system (PSS). The payment serviceapplication enables the merchant to prompt a customer (the “referrer”)to send a referral that includes a promotional offer to a potential newcustomer (the “referee”). For example, the payment service applicationgenerates a receipt for the transaction, where the receipt includes areferral prompt generated on behalf of the merchant. The receipt can bea digital receipt that is presented in an electronic message, such as anemail to the referrer or on a display terminal of the POS system. Thereferrer can initiate the process for the referral by inputting contactinformation of the referee (“referee information”), such as an emailaddress and name of the referee, to the POS system. The payment serviceapplication communicates this information to the PSS, which thenexecutes or triggers execution of the generation and sending of thereferral to the referee based on the referee information. The refereereceives and accepts the referral and the included promotional offer(e.g., at a computing device of the referee, by reading and replying toan email message sent from the PSS). Upon acceptance by the referee, thePSS associates the referee's email address with the referral and storessuch association for use in redemption of the promotional offer.

In some embodiments, the referee can automatically redeem thepromotional offer included in the referral by using the referee'spayment card at the POS system of the merchant, without having toprovide any information related to the referral or the referee. In suchembodiments, the referee has a service account with the PSS, where thereferee's email address and/or other contact information is registeredwith the PSS and is associated with the referee's payment cardinformation. When the referee makes a purchase transaction with themerchant by using his/her payment card, the payment service application,installed on the merchant's POS system, automatically detects thepayment card information from the payment card and communicates thatinformation to the PSS. The PSS, in turn, identifies the promotionaloffer based on an identification of the association between the paymentcard information and the email address, which has been stored inassociation with the referral. Based on this identification, the PSSexecutes or causes execution of the redemption process of thepromotional offer included in the referral at the POS system. In someembodiments, the PSS further executes or causes execution of a transferof a referral reward (e.g., points, discount, payment, etc.) to thereferrer in response to a redemption of the promotional offer by thereferee.

Among other benefits, the referral technology provides a seamlessprocess for both the referrer and the referee in the generation,acceptance, and redemption associated with the referral. In particular,the referee, on one hand, is able to enjoy the benefit of the referralby simply making a purchase, without having to maintain and/or rememberany details about the promotional offer once he/she has accepted thereferral from the referrer. The referrer, on the other hand, can becompensated automatically based on the referee's purchase, withouthaving to track the referral once he/she has provided the refereeinformation to initiate the process for the referral. Additionally, themerchant is provided with an effective tool for increasing andmaintaining customer business. In particular, the merchant is able toreach out to new customers based on the personal relationships ofexisting customers. Further, with the stored associations between thereferral and the referrer/referee, the merchant is able to effectivelytrack the referral and to reward both the referrer and the referee,thereby encouraging loyalty in both existing and new customers.

The PSS in at least some embodiments is a secure payment servicebusiness enterprise and computer system, that is engaged by a merchantto process payment transactions initiated at the merchant's POS system.The merchant initially installs a payment service application, executedby the PSS, on the POS system. The POS system can be, for example, aconventional personal computer (PC), such as a desktop computer orlaptop computer, or it may be a smartphone, tablet computer, or anyother known or convenient computing device. The payment serviceapplication can be a mobile application (i.e., a mobile “app”) or aconventional software application. The payment service applicationcommunicates with the PSS to process transactions instantiated, orexecuted, at the POS system.

Consider the following example scenario in which the referral technologycan be implemented, where the example scenario includes three phases.The three phases involve a referral generation phase, a referralacceptance phase, and a referral redemption phase. Phases one and twooperate as the referral initiation process, where a customer (e.g., afirst customer) requests a referral, including a promotional offer, tobe generated for a friend (e.g., a (potential) second customer) andwhere the friend, or second customer, accepts the promotional offerincluded in the referral (“referral initiation process”). Phase threeoperates as the referral redemption process where the friend redeems thepromotion offer and the redemption is automatically processed (i.e.,“redemption process”).

In phase one, a first customer visits the merchant's physical businesslocation and makes a purchase at the POS system by using his paymentcard (e.g., a credit card). The payment service application installed onthe POS system obtains payment card information from the payment cardpurchase transaction (e.g., via a swipe of the credit card through acard reader coupled to the POS system). In some embodiments, the paymentservice application also obtains an email address of the first customer(“first email address”) by prompting, or requesting, whether the firstcustomer wishes to receive an electronic receipt for the transaction. Insuch embodiments, upon receiving the first email address, the paymentservice application communicates to the PSS the first email address andthe transaction information (e.g., the payment card information,transaction date/time, transaction ID, transaction item description ofitem(s) purchased by the first customer, etc.). The PSS, in turn,generates and sends an electronic receipt to the first customer (e.g.,via the first email address).

In some embodiments, the electronic receipt can include a first referraluser interface (UI) element configured to prompt the first customer toindicate whether he desires to send a referral to someone, such as afriend, relative or coworker. In some embodiments, the first referralinterface element can be a text display with a hyperlink that operatesto redirect the first customer to a landing page, which contains inputfields for the first customer to submit information about the firstcustomer (i.e., himself) and about a new customer (i.e., his friend),e.g., a potential second customer. The information about the secondcustomer (i.e., referee information) can be, for example, the secondcustomer's name and email address. The information about the firstcustomer can be, for example, the first customer's name and emailaddress. In some embodiments, the information about the first customercan be auto-populated based on the information related to thetransaction. For example, the first referral interface element can be atext display, “Refer a friend, and both you and the friend get a freecoffee each! Click here.”

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element includes atext and/or graphical display that prompts the first customer to submitthe referee information by sending an email (e.g., in reply to the emailthat includes the electronic receipt). In some embodiments, the firstreferral interface element can be a text display that prompts the firstcustomer to submit the referee information by sending a text message(e.g., in reply to a text message that includes the electronic receipt).

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element includes theinput fields that allow the first customer to submit the refereeinformation. For example, the electronic receipt, in such embodiments,can be displayed by an interface of the payment service applicationinstalled on the POS system, where the first referral interface elementis part of the interface. In another example, the electronic receipt, insuch embodiments, is received at a mobile payment application installedon a mobile device of the first customer, and the electronic receipt,along with the first referral interface element, is displayed on aninterface of the mobile payment application.

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element is generatedindependently of the receipt. For example, the first referral interfaceelement can be generated by the PSS for display on a website associatedwith the merchant. In another example, the first referral interfaceelement is generated by the PSS for display on a social networkassociated with the referrer. In yet another example, the first referralinterface element is generated as part of an interface, separate fromthe electronic receipt, of the payment service application installed onthe POS system.

The PSS next receives the referee information submitted by the firstcustomer (e.g., via email, website, or the payment service application),where communication of the referee information to the PSS triggers arequest from the first customer to generate the referral. Submission bythe first customer also triggers transmission of the information relatedto the transaction (e.g., first email address and transactioninformation) to the PSS. The PSS uses the information related to thetransaction and the referee information to generate the referral and apromotional offer to include in the referral. For example, from thetransaction information, the PSS can determine that the first customerhas purchased a bag of ground premium coffee “X”, and in response, thePSS generates a referral that includes a free cup of premium coffee “Y”(i.e., the promotional offer) for both the first and second customers.In some embodiments, the PSS also associates the referral with at leasta portion of the information related to the transaction, and stores suchassociation in a database of the PSS. The portion of information relatedto the transaction can include, for example, the payment cardinformation identifying a payment card of the first customer.

In phase two, the PSS sends a referral message representative of thegenerated referral to the second customer, based on the refereeinformation (e.g., via email address). The referral message includes asecond referral interface element that is configured to prompt thesecond user to accept the referral with the promotional offer. In someembodiments, the referral message is sent via email based on the emailaddress of the referee provided by the referrer in phase one. In suchembodiments, the second referral interface element included in thereferral message can prompt the second customer to accept the referralby sending an email (e.g., a reply email). In some embodiments, thereferral message is sent via text messaging (e.g., a short messageservice (SMS) message) based on a telephone number of the refereeprovided by the referrer in phase one. In such embodiments, the secondreferral interface element prompts the second customer to accept bysending a text message (e.g., a reply text message).

In some embodiments, the second referral interface element is configuredto prompt the second customer to submit information in order to acceptthe referral (and the included promotional offer). In one example, theinformation can include payment card information associated with apayment card of the second customer. In another example, the informationcan include account login information for linking the referral with theaccount (e.g., a bank's debit card linked referral).

Upon receiving the acceptance from the second user, the PSS associatesthe referral with at least a portion of the referee information and/orthe information submitted with the acceptance. For example, the PSS canassociate the email address of the second customer (“second emailaddress”) with the promotional offer included in the referral, andstores the association in a database of the PSS for use in a redemptionprocess of the promotional offer in the referral in a futuretransaction. In another example, the PSS can associate the payment cardinformation of the second customer (“second payment card information”)with the referral, and stores the association in a database of the PSSfor use in a redemption process of the promotional offer in the referralin a future transaction.

For the sake of simplicity, in the example scenario the second emailaddress of the referee has already been stored independently by the PSSin a previous transaction conducted by the second customer at aparticular merchant's POS system. The particular merchant can be eitherthe same merchant with whom the first customer conducts the transactiondiscussed above, or a different merchant, as long as the particularmerchant conducts the previous transaction at a POS system that cancommunicate with the PSS (e.g., through a payment service applicationinstalled on that POS system). From the previous transaction, the PSShas received both the second payment card information obtained from apayment card of the second customer and the second email address todeliver an electronic receipt for the previous transaction. Further, thePSS has stored the second payment card information in association withthe second email address. Accordingly, upon receipt of the referralacceptance from the referee, the database of the PSS contains the secondpayment card information, the second email address, and the referralstored in association with the second email address, all of which can beused in the redemption process of the promotional offer in the referralto be discussed in phase three.

In phase three, the second customer, prompted by the referral, visitsthe merchant's physical business location and makes a purchase at thePOS system in a second transaction by using the second customer'spayment card (e.g., a credit card). The payment service applicationinstalled on the POS system first obtains the second payment cardinformation from the second customer's payment card (i.e., “secondpayment card”). The payment service application communicates the secondpayment card information and other information related to thetransaction, such as item description of items purchased in the secondtransaction (e.g., a cup of coffee and a pastry), to the PSS. The PSSperforms a database lookup to identify the second payment card and thesecond email address that is associated with the second payment card.Based on the second email address, the PSS identifies, or recognizes,the referral based on the previously stored association between thereferral and the second email address. In response to the identificationof the referral, the PSS causes execution of a redemption process of thepromotional offer included in the referral.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process involves thePSS communicating the identification of the referral to the paymentservice application, which, in turn, applies a deduction at the POSsystem to the transaction amount of the transaction between the secondcustomer and the merchant. For example, the deduction can be equivalentto the purchase price of the cup of coffee (i.e., free cup of coffee. Inthis example, the transaction amount charged to the second payment cardwould only be, e.g., the price of the pastry.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process occurspost-transaction, where the PSS communicates with a financial systemassociated with the second payment card of the second customer to causean amount to be credited back into a payment account of that card. Insome embodiments, the amount can be transferred from a payment accountof the PSS to the payment account of the second customer's payment card.In some embodiments, the amount can be transferred from a paymentaccount of the merchant to the payment account of the second customer'spayment card.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process occurspost-transaction, where the PSS communicates with a financial systemassociated with the second payment card of the second customer to voidand/or edit a payment authorization request. In such embodiments, thetransaction amount of the second transaction has been submitted forauthorization. The PSS, in executing the redemption process, transmitsto the financial system a request to edit the amount in theauthorization request. In one example, the PSS requests to void therequested transaction (e.g., free coffee). In another example, the PSSrequests to reduce the requested authorization amount (e.g., a discounton purchased coffee).

In some embodiments, the execution of the redemption process in phasethree occurs post-transaction based on an initiation of the secondcustomer, as opposed to execution during the second transaction. Forexample, the second customer receives an electronic receipt for thesecond transaction with the merchant. In such receipt, the secondcustomer is notified of the referral with a message prompting the secondcustomer to redeem the referral (e.g., “Make cup of coffee free!”). Anexample of such a message is shown in a display 700 of FIG. 7. Thenotification of the referral can be a third referral interface elementthat, upon being activated, causes the referral to be applied to thesecond transaction. An example of the third referral interface elementis shown as component 702 in the display 700 of FIG. 7. In someembodiments, upon receiving an indication that the second customerwishes to apply the referral (e.g., a click on a link or buttondisplayed on the receipt), the PSS communicates with a financial systemassociated with the second payment card of the second customer to causean amount to be credited back into a payment account of the secondpayment card.

Note that in the above discussed example scenario, a payment card, whichis a specific type of payment object, is utilized by the first andsecond customers. However, a customer (e.g., the first or secondcustomer) can use a payment object other than a payment card in theimplementation of the referral technology in other embodiments. Anexample of another type of payment object that may be used for thispurpose is a biometrically identifiable object, such as a person'sfinger (e.g., for fingerprint recognition), face, iris or retina.Alternatively, a payment object can be a software object or virtualobject, such as a virtual wallet. Additionally, a payment card otherthan a credit card may be utilized in the implementation of the referraltechnology, such as a debit card or a pre-paid gift card. In oneexample, a customer can place his/her finger on a fingerprint scanner toutilize his/her fingerprint as a payment object to initiate payment fora transaction. In this example, the fingerprint can be authenticated andsubsequently sent to a financial system (e.g., a card payment network)for payment authorization. The authenticated fingerprint can then bestored by the PSS in association with an identifier of a customer foruse in the referral technology.

In some embodiments, the payment card of a customer has apre-established association with the PSS, such that any transactionapproval request relating to that card will get routed to the PSS. Insuch embodiments, the customer's payment card may be a “proxy card.” Aproxy card, as that term is used herein, is a card that bears a cardnumber/account number that appears to be that of a real credit or debitcard account (i.e., it is in the correct format), but where thatcard/account number is actually only a proxy for the customer's realcard or account number. In that case, the customer's real account numberis stored by the PSS in association with the proxy card account number,and is used to pay for a transaction made using the card. Further, sucha proxy card may be associated with multiple accounts and/or otherpayment mechanisms of different types (e.g., credit card accounts, debitcard accounts, etc.) of the customer, where any one of those paymentmechanisms can be selected by the customer or automatically by the PSSto pay for a given transaction.

Additionally, note that while an email address is discussed in the aboveexample scenario, other types of contact information can be utilized inthe implementation of the referral technology in other embodiments.Examples of such contact information include any identifier associatedwith an individual customer (e.g., first or second customer). Theidentifier can be, for example, a telephone number, a driver's licensenumber, a social security number, a messaging handler (e.g., instantmessage username, social networking username, etc.), an employeeidentification number (“employee ID”), a device identifier (“deviceID”), a mobile application identifier (“app ID”), an IP address, apersonal identification number (PIN), a card verification value (CVV), asecurity access code, a biometric identifier (e.g., fingerprint, face,iris, retina, etc.), or any other identification means.

Further, in accordance with the above-discussed embodiments, thereferral technology involves communication between the payment serviceapplication installed on the merchant's POS system and the PSS. However,in other embodiments, the referral technology can be implemented by thePSS communicating with other remote systems to facilitate the referral.In some embodiments, the PSS can directly communicate with the merchant.In such embodiments, the merchant may access a web portal hosted by thePSS to provide the PSS with the information related to varioustransactions (e.g., contact information, transaction information, etc.)for facilitation of the referrals.

In some embodiments, the PSS communicates with a card network paymentthat handles payment authorizations in order to facilitate thereferrals. In such embodiments, the PSS sends the card payment network alist of payment cards that have registered with the PSS. When atransaction is initiated at a POS system using a card that is on thelist of payment cards, the card payment network receives the paymentauthorization request for that transaction and forwards to the PSS thetransaction information (e.g., payment card information, transactionamount, transaction location, etc.). The PSS can then utilize thatinformation in various operations performed to implement the referraltechnology, such as receipt generation and referral generation.

The term “cause” and variations thereof, as used in the precedingparagraph and elsewhere in this description, refers to either directcausation or indirect causation. For example, a computer system can“cause” an action by sending a message to a second computer system thatcommands, requests or prompts the second computer system to perform theaction. Any number of intermediary devices may examine and/or relay themessage during this process. In this regard, a device can “cause” anaction even though it may not be known to the device whether the actionwill ultimately be executed or completed.

Various examples of the referral technology will now be described infurther detail. The following description provides specific details fora thorough understanding and enabling description of these examples. Oneskilled in the relevant art will understand, however, that the referraltechnology discussed herein may be practiced without many of thesedetails. Likewise, one skilled in the relevant art will also understandthat the referral technology can include many other obvious features notdescribed in detail herein. Additionally, some well-known structures orfunctions may not be shown or described in detail below, so as to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the relevant description.

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment 100 in which the referral technologycan be implemented according to some embodiments. The environmentincludes a POS system 120 of a merchant, a computing device 104 of afirst user 101, and a computing device 105 of a second user 102. Thecomputing devices 104, 105 can each be, for example, a smartphone, atablet computer, a notebook computer, a desktop, or any other form ofprocessing device. The environment 100 also includes a financial system130 and a payment service system 110.

The financial system 130 can include a computer system 132 of themerchant's acquirer, a computer system 134 of an issuing bank, and acomputer system 136 of a card payment network. The merchant's acquirercan be a bank or financial institution that processes payments (e.g.,credit or debit card payments) on behalf of the merchant. The acquireracquires the payments from an issuer. The issuer (or issuing bank) is abank or financial institution that offers a financial account (e.g.,credit or debit card account) to the users 101, 102, respectively. Theissuer issues payments to the acquirer on behalf of the users 101, 102,respectively.

The environment 100 can accommodate both traditional payment cardtransactions (i.e., those involving reading of a physical card (e.g.,payment card 106) of a customer (e.g., user 101 or user 102) at themerchant's location), as well as card-not-present (CNP) transactions(i.e., those where the card is not physically presented at the time thatthe payment is effected).

In a traditional credit card transaction, for example, the merchantswipes the payment card 106 (e.g., a credit card) of the user 101through a card reader 122 at the POS system 120. The term “swipe” hererefers to any manner of triggering a card reader to read data from acard, such as by passing a card into or through a magnetic stripe cardreader, optical scanner, smartcard (card with an embedded IC chip)reader (e.g., an EMV-compliant card reader), radio frequencyidentification (RFID) reader, or the like. The POS system 120 sends dataobtained, or read, from the card (e.g., the cardholder's name, creditcard number, expiration date, card verification value (CVV), etc.) tothe computer system 132 of the merchant's acquirer (hereinafter“acquirer 132”). The acquirer 132 sends this data to the computer system134 of the card payment network (e.g., Visa or MasterCard) (hereinafter“card payment network 134”), which forwards the data to the computersystem 136 of the issuing bank (hereinafter “issuer 136”). If thetransaction is approved by the issuer 136, a payment authorizationmessage is sent from the issuer 136 to the merchant POS system 120 via apath opposite of that described above. The traditional credit cardtransaction can be repeated when the user 102 uses his/her payment cardat the POS system 120.

In a card-not-present transaction, for example, the user 101 places anonline order by transmitting the data of a credit card from a computingdevice (e.g., the computing device 104 or the computing device 105) tothe POS system 120. The POS system 120 can include, e.g., a web serverfor receiving the online order information. Then the POS system 120sends the data of the card to the acquirer 132. The acquirer 132, theissuer 134 and the card payment network 136 complete the transaction ina way similar to the traditional credit card transaction.

Note that for ease of discussion, the acquirer 132, the card paymentnetwork 134, and the issuer 136 may be collectively referred to as thefinancial system 130 throughout the specification.

The payment service system 110 (hereinafter, “PSS 110”) can include acomputer system operated by a payment service business enterprise. ThePSS 110 includes one or more server computers programmed to facilitatethe initiation, generation, acceptance, and redemption associated withreferrals. The one or more server computers of the PSS 110 can furtherbe programmed to provide interactive UIs for facilitating the referral.The PSS 110 can collect information from various parties, such as thePOS system 120, the computing devices 104, 105 of the users 101, 102,and the financial system 130.

In some embodiments, the POS system 120 includes a payment serviceapplication installed on the POS system 120. In such embodiments, thePSS 110 can collect information through the payment service application,such as information related to transactions conducted at the POS systembetween the merchant and one or more customers (e.g., the users 101,102). The information related to the transactions can include anycontact information provided by the customers and transactioninformation, such as transaction date/time, transaction ID, transactionitem description, transaction location, payment card information (e.g.,a cardholder's name, payment card number, expiration date, cardverification value (CVV), etc.), among others.

In some embodiments, the POS system 120 includes a mobile paymentapplication installed on a computing device of a customer (e.g., thecomputing device 104 or the computing device 105). In such embodiments,the PSS 110, through the mobile payment application, can collectinformation related to a referral, such as referee information from theuser 101 in a request to initiate and/or generate the referral and otherinformation from the user 102 in an acceptance of the referral (e.g.,payment card information, financial account login information, etc.).

In some embodiments, the POS system 120 includes a network interfacecomponent configured to communicate with remote computer systems (e.g.,financial system 130) and/or computing devices (e.g., devices 104, 105)to facilitate the referral process. For example, the POS system 120communicates with one or more computer systems of the financial system130 to obtain payment authorization for various transactions. In anotherexample, the POS system 120 communicates with the computing device 104,e.g., via email or text message, to obtain referee information from theuser 101. In yet another example, the POS system 120 communicates withthe computing device 105, e.g., via email or text message, to obtainother information from the user 102 in an acceptance of the referral ofa customer.

Based on the collected information from the various parties, the PSS 110can help the merchant track the referral, from initiation, togeneration, to acceptance, and to redemption. For example, the PSS 110can collect and maintain information about each of the users 101, 102,the transactions associated with the users 101, 102, and the referralshared between the users 101, 102. Using such information, the PSS 110can associate certain pieces of information and store such associationto facilitate a seamless experience for the user 101, the user 102, andthe merchant. Further details regarding facilitation of the referralwill be discussed in FIGS. 2-8.

Note that each of the aforementioned computer systems can include one ormore distinct physical computers and/or other processing devices, which,in the case of multiple devices, can be connected to each other throughone or more wired and/or wireless networks. All of the aforementioneddevices are coupled to each other through an internetwork 108, which canbe or include the Internet and one or more wireless networks (e.g., aWiFi network and/or a cellular telecommunications network).

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process of facilitating areferral with use of a payment card, according to some embodiments. Forpurposes of illustration only, the process of FIG. 2 is explained withreference to one or more components illustrated in FIG. 1. The processbegins at step 201, in which the merchant initiates a paymenttransaction at the POS system 120 by reading card data, or payment cardinformation, from the payment card 106 of the first user 101 in responseto a card swipe through the card reader 122. The payment card 106 can bean actual credit or debit card of the consumer, for example, or it can,instead, be a proxy card such as described above (e.g., a card issued bythe PSS 110 and associated with one or more financial accounts of thefirst user 101). The payment card information can include, for example,the first user's name, payment card number, expiration date, and cardverification value (CVV).

At step 202, in response to the card swipe, the POS system 120 transmitsonto the internetwork 108 a transaction approval request that includestransaction information, or transaction data, about the transaction, fortransmission to the PSS 110. The transaction data can include, forexample, the aforementioned payment card data, as well as the amount ofthe transaction, transaction date and time, data identifying themerchant and the merchant's merchant category code (MCC). Thetransaction approval request can be transmitted directly to the PSS 110(e.g., through the payment service application installed on the POSsystem 120), or it can get routed to the PSS 110 through one or moreintermediary entities, such as the acquirer 132 and/or card paymentnetwork 134 of the financial system 130. Upon receiving the transactionapproval request, the PSS 110 approves the transaction. Note that forthe sake of simplicity, the scenario in which the transaction is deniedis not discussed here, since it is not germane to the technique beingintroduced.

In response to the transaction being approved, the PSS 110 performs atleast the following two additional operations. At step 203A, the PSS 110sends onto the internetwork 108 a transaction approval message, fortransmission to the POS system 120. In addition, at step 204A, the PSS110 transmits an electronic receipt message onto the internetwork 108,for transmission to the computing device 104 of the user 101 (e.g., overa wired or wireless communications network). The electronic receiptmessage contains information regarding the transaction, i.e., anelectronic receipt, including whether the transaction has been approved,the amount of the transaction, the name of the merchant, and in at leastsome instances, an item description that itemizes the items purchased in(or otherwise the subject of) the transaction. Note that steps 203A and204A can be performed in any order or concurrently.

At step 203B, the POS system 120 receives the transaction approvalmessage sent by the PSS 110 (e.g., through the payment serviceapplication) and, in response, outputs a conventional transactionapproval indication to the merchant. The indication may be in the formof, for example, a printed receipt, an electronic receipt displayed on adisplay device associated with the POS system 120, or both. In someembodiments, within the POS system 120, the transaction approval messageis conveyed up through the various lower protocol layers to a paymentservice application, which recognizes the electronic receipt included inthe transaction approval message. In response to recognizing theelectronic receipt, at step 203B, the payment service application causesthe POS system 120 to display the electronic receipt to the user 101. Aswill be discussed in further details below, in some embodiments, theelectronic receipt includes a first referral interface element that isconfigured to prompt the user 101 to indicate whether he desires to senda referral about the merchant to a friend, such as the second user 102.

In addition to step 203B, at step 204B, the computing device 104 of thefirst user 101 receives the electronic receipt message sent by the PSS110. In some embodiments, within the computing device 104, theelectronic receipt message is conveyed up through the various lowerprotocol layers to a mobile payment application, which recognizes theelectronic receipt message as such. The mobile payment application canbe associated with the PSS 110. For example, the mobile paymentapplication executes one or more operations based on computerinstructions received from the PSS 110, e.g., over a wirelesscommunication network. In another example, the mobile paymentapplication is a standalone application configured to communicate and/orwork in coordination with the PSS 110. In response to recognizing theelectronic receipt message, at step 204B, the mobile payment applicationcauses the computing device 104 to display the electronic receipt to theuser 101.

In some embodiments, the electronic receipt message is a text messagesent to a telephone number of the first user 101, and is conveyed upthrough various lower protocol layers to a text messaging applicationinstalled on the computing device 104. The telephone number of the firstuser 101 has been either stored by the PSS 110 in a previous transactionor provided by the first user 101 in the current transaction (e.g., atstep 201). An example of the electronic receipt sent as a text messageis shown in a display 310 of FIG. 3A.

In some embodiments, the electronic receipt message is an email messagesent to an email address of the first user 101, and is conveyed upthrough various lower protocol layers to an email application installedon the computing device 104. The first email address of the first user101 has been either stored by the PSS 110 in a previous transaction orprovided by the first user 101 in the current transaction (e.g., at step201). An example of the electronic receipt sent as an email message isshown in a display 320 of FIG. 3A.

In some embodiments, the electronic receipt message is displayed to theuser 101 within a graphical user interface of a mobile application(e.g., a mobile receipt application or a mobile payment serviceapplication) installed on the computing device 104. For example, themobile application can be downloaded from a remote server system that isemployed by a merchant to process and/or manage transactions. The remoteserver system can be, for example, the PSS 110 of FIG. 1. Through themobile application, the first user 101 can access details abouttransactions conducted at one or more merchants, including, for example,viewing a receipt and initiating a referral generation process. Anexample of the electronic receipt message displayed within a mobileapplication is shown in a display 300 of FIG. 3A.

In some embodiments, the electronic receipt, contained within theelectronic receipt message, includes a first referral interface element.The first referral interface element is configured to prompt the user101 to indicate whether he desires to send a referral about the merchantto a friend, such as the second user 102. The user 101 can indicate thathe would like to send, or initiate sending of, the referral by, forexample, touching a “Refer a friend and get a reward” virtual tile(i.e., the first referral interface element) on a touchscreen display ofthe computing device 104. An example of such a first referral interfaceelement is shown as component 302 in FIG. 3A. The process ends if theuser 101 indicates that he does not desire sending a referral.

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element includes inputfields that allow the first user 101 to submit information about thefirst user 101 (i.e., himself) (“referee information”) and about thesecond user 102 (i.e., his friend) (“referrer information”). In suchembodiments, the input fields can be generated for display in responseto receiving an indication from the user 101 that he wants to send areferral. For example, when the user 101 clicks, or touches, the “Refera friend and get a reward” virtual tile, the mobile payment applicationcauses the computing device 104 to display the input fields. Examples ofthe input fields are shown in displays 400 and 410 of FIG. 4.

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element is a textdisplay within an email message receipt that prompts the first user 101to send a reply email message with the referee information and/or thereferrer information. An example of such an interface element is shownas text display 322 in FIG. 3A. In some embodiments, the first referralinterface element is a text display within a text message receipt thatprompts the first user 101 to send a reply text message with the refereeinformation and/or the referrer information. An example of such aninterface element is shown as text display 312 in FIG. 3A.

In some embodiments, the user 101 only receives a paper receipt at thePOS system 120 for the transaction with the merchant, as opposed to anelectronic receipt message. For example, the user 101 receives the paperreceipt that is generated and sent from the PSS 110 and printed at thePOS system 110 at step 203B. In such embodiments, the referral can beincluded on the paper receipt as a promotional offer code. Thepromotional offer code can be provided to the user 102 in a number ofways, including, for example, as a photo, a scanned image, in-personhand-off, etc.

In some embodiments, the first referral interface element is generatedindependent of the receipt. In one example, the first referral interfaceelement is generated by the PSS for display on a website associated withthe merchant. An example of such interface element is shown as component332 within a text display 334 in a display 330 of FIG. 3B. In anotherexample, the first referral interface element is generated by the PSSfor display on a social network associated with the referrer (e.g., ahyperlink on Facebook®). An example of such interface element is shownas component 342 within a text display 344 in a display 340 of FIG. 3B.In both of the examples, the first referral interface element includes ahyperlink that redirects the first user 101 to another landing page(e.g., webpage, website, widget, etc.) that contains the input fields tosubmit the referrer and referee information. Examples of the landingpage with the input fields are shown in the displays 400 and 410 of FIG.4.

The referee information can be, for example, the name of the second user102 and contact information of the second user 102. The contactinformation can be, for example, a telephone number. The referrerinformation can be, for example, the name of the first user 101 andcontact information of the first user 101. In some embodiments, thereferrer information can be auto-populated based on the data related tothe transaction, such as the transaction data (e.g., cardholder's name)and any contact information provided by the first user 101 to receivethe electronic receipt at step 204B. The contact information can be, forexample, an email address, a telephone number, a device ID (of thecomputing device 104), etc.

At step 205, the computing device 104 sends onto the internetwork 108 areferral request message, for transmission to the PSS 110. The referralrequest message is generated and transmitted in response to the firstuser 101 submitting the referee information and/or the referrerinformation (e.g., via the payment service application, the mobilepayment application, email, or website). The referral request messageincludes the information submitted by the user 101 (e.g., the refereeinformation and/or the referrer information) and the information relatedto the transaction (e.g., the transaction data and/or any contactinformation submitted at step 201).

At step 206, the PSS 110 generates the referral by using the receivedinformation. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 determines whatpromotional offer to include in the referral based on the transactiondata, such that the promotional offer would incentivize the user 101 tosend a referral. For example, the PSS 110 can determine that the firstuser 101 enjoys a variety of premium coffee beans based on the itemspurchased in the transaction at the POS system 120. Further, the PSS 110can access a database (e.g., user account database 516, financialaccount database 518, and/or transaction history database 520 of FIG. 5)to identify past transaction data associated with the payment card 106of the user 101, and determine, for example, that the user 101 enjoyspremium coffee beans from South America. Using this knowledge, the PSS110 can generate a referral that includes a promotional offer, forexample, for a free cup of coffee Y, which is a premium coffee varietyfrom Brazil.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 further determines an identity of theuser 102 based on the referee information. Based on the contactinformation of the user 102, the PSS 110 can access a database (e.g.,user account database 516, financial account database 518, and/ortransaction history database 520 of FIG. 5) to determine if the contactinformation is associated with a payment card of the user 102 in a pasttransaction. The past transaction can be instantiated, or executed, atany POS system that is associated with the PSS 110. The PSS 110 hasaccess to such transaction data because of the service that the paymentservice business enterprise provides to a variety of merchants.

For example, the user 102 has used her payment card in a pasttransaction with a POS system of another merchant (e.g., at anarts-and-crafts fair), where the user 102 has provided her email addressto receive a receipt for that transaction. In this example, the POSsystem has obtained payment card information from a swipe of the paymentcard and has sent (e.g., via a wired or wireless communication network)such information, along with the email address, to the PSS 110 torequest, e.g., for payment authorization and receipt. Upon receivingthis information, the PSS 110, in addition to processing thetransaction, has stored the payment card information in association withthe email address of the user 102. The PSS 110 can now utilize thestored association between the email address and the payment cardinformation to facilitate the referral process on behalf of the user101. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 can identify whether the user 102has a mobile payment application installed on the computing device 105,where the mobile payment application is associated with the PSS 110,similar to the mobile payment application discussed above with respectto the device 104. In such embodiments, the PSS 110 can communicate thereferral to the user 102 through the mobile payment application.

At step 207, the PSS 110 sends a referral message that includes thegenerated referral to the user 102 (e.g., via email address, telephonenumber, mobile payment application ID, etc.). In some embodiments, thePSS 110 also stores the generated referral in association with at leasta portion of the information related to the transaction at the POSsystem 120. The portion of information can include, for example, thepayment card information that identifies the payment card 106 of thefirst user 101. The stored association between the referral and thepayment card information can be used, for example, to generate areferral reward for the user 101 when the user 102 redeems the referral.For example, the PSS 110 can automatically cause a monetary amount(i.e., the referral reward) to be transferred to a payment account ofthe user 101 upon redemption of the promotional offer in the referral bythe user 102. Other portions of information may be stored in associationwith the referral, for example, transaction ID, item description, nameof the user 101, etc. The association/storing can be performed in anyorder or concurrently with the transmission of the referral to the user102 at step 207.

Referring back to the user 102, the computing device 105 of the user 102receives the referral message sent by the PSS 110. In some embodiments,within the computing device 105, the referral message, sent to the emailaddress of the user 102, is conveyed up through the various lowerprotocol layers to an email application, which recognizes the referralmessage as an email message. In some embodiments, within the computingdevice 105, the referral message, sent to the telephone number of theuser 102, is conveyed up through the various lower protocol layers to atext messaging application, which recognizes the referral message as atext message. In some embodiments, within the computing device 105, thereferral message is conveyed up through the various lower protocollayers to the mobile payment application, which recognizes the referralmessage as such.

The referral message includes a second referral interface element thatis configured to prompt the user 102 to accept the referral (i.e.,accept the promotional offer included in the referral). In someembodiments, the second referral interface element can prompt the user102 to accept by sending an email (e.g., a reply email). In someembodiments, the second referral interface element can prompt the user102 to accept by sending a text message (e.g., a reply text message). Insome embodiments, the second referral interface element can prompt theuser 102 to accept by clicking on an action button within the mobilepayment application (e.g., “Accept promotional offer”).

In some embodiments, the second referral interface element requires theuser 102 to submit information to accept the promotional offer in thereferral. In such embodiments, it is assumed that the user 102 does nothave an account with the PSS 110, has not conducted a transaction at aPOS system that is associated with the PSS 110, and/or has not conducteda transaction using a payment card with a card payment network that isassociated with the POS system. In one example, the information requiredof the user 102 can include payment card information that identifies apayment card (e.g., a debit card, a credit card, etc.) of the user 102(e.g., name on card, card number, expiration date, CVV, etc.). Inanother example, the information required of the user 102 can include anemail address of the user 102, for example, if the referral message issent through a social network or a website of a merchant instead of viaemail. In another example, the information required of the user 102 caninclude login information to a payment service system operated by thePSS 110, for example, to expedite the process of associating the one ormore payment cards of the user 102 with the referral, in the scenariothat the user 102 already has such an account with the PSS 110. In yetanother example, the information can include account login informationfor a financial account to link the referral with the account (e.g., aBank of America card-linked referral).

In some embodiments, the second referral interface element requires theuser 102 to confirm, correct, and/or complete his/her identityinformation to accept the promotional offer provided in the referral. Insuch embodiments, the PSS 110 analyzes the information received from theuser 101 (e.g., at step 205) to identify and present to the user 102information about his/her name, and prompts the user 102 to confirm thatinformation is correct, correct that information, and/or to submit anyadditional inputs to complete that information. For example, theinformation received from the user 101 includes a first name “John” andan email address johns@gmail.com. In this example, the second referralinterface element can display “John” and prompts the missing last nameand/or middle name information from the user 102. The user 102 can thencomplete the name information by submitting, for example, “K. Smith” fora completed name “John K. Smith.” In another example, the user 101submits a name “Johhhn Smith” and the second referral interface elementcan display that information to allow the user 102 to correct (e.g., tochange the name to “John K. Smith”). In yet another example, the secondreferral interface element can display “John K. Smith” and prompting theuser 102 to make any changes. In this example, the user 102 can simplyconfirm the name information displayed.

At step 208, the computing device 105 transmits an acceptance messagefrom the user 102 to the PSS 110, where the acceptance message includesthe submitted payment card/account information (if any). At step 209,the PSS 110 receives the acceptance message and, in response, associatesthe promotional offer in the referral with at least a portion of thereferee information and/or the information submitted with theacceptance. For example, the PSS associates the email address of theuser 102 with the promotional offer, and stores the association in adatabase of the PSS for use in redemption processing associated with thereferral in a future transaction. In another example, the PSS 110 storesthe submitted payment/card account information in association with thepromotional offer. Alternatively, the PSS 110 identifies thepayment/card account information of the user 102 based on the emailaddress of the user 102, and stores the payment/card account informationin association with the promotional offer.

At step 210, the merchant initiates a second payment transaction at thePOS system 120 by reading card data, or payment card information, from apayment card of the second user 102 in response to a card swipe throughthe card reader 122. At step 211, in response to the card swipe, the POSsystem 120 transmits onto the internetwork 108 a second transactionapproval request that includes transaction information, or transactiondata, about the second transaction, for transmission to the PSS 110. Thesecond transaction approval request can be transmitted directly to thePSS 110, or it can get routed to the PSS 110 through one or moreintermediary entities, such as the acquirer 132 and/or card paymentnetwork 134 of the financial system 130. Upon receiving the transactionapproval request, the PSS 110 approves the transaction. Note that forthe sake of simplicity, the scenario in which the transaction is deniedis not discussed here.

In response to the transaction being approved, the PSS 110 performs forthe user 102 at least the operations discussed above with respect tosteps 203A and 204A. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 can furtherperform an operation to determine whether the customer has requested aredemption of a promotional offer. In such embodiments, the PSS 110detects if there exists an indication of a redemption request from thecustomer.

In some embodiments, the indication of a redemption request can bedetected based on the payment card information included in thetransaction data. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 utilizes the paymentcard information to perform a database lookup for identifying whetherthe customer is the user 102. In such embodiments, the PSS 110 looks forthe email address that is associated with the payment card identified bythe payment card information. Upon identifying that the email address isthe email address of the user 102, the PSS 110 identifies whether thereis a referral associated with that email address. In particular, the PSS110 can identify the referral based on the previously stored associationbetween the referral and the email address of the user 102. In responseto the identification of the referral, the PSS 110 causes execution of aredemption process for the promotional offer included in the referral.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 identifies the user 102 by using fuzzylogic to correlate the payment card information (received in the secondtransaction) with the referee information (received from the first user101). For example, if the PSS 110 identifies a match in the name of thecardholder and the name included in the referee information, the PSS 110is able to verify that the customer in the second transaction is indeedthe second user 102 who has accepted the referral (in step 208). Notethat the term “match” as used here may not necessarily require an exactmatch. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 maintains a list of names of allreferrers that have been identified and/or submitted, by one or morereferrers, to the POS system 120 (e.g., at step 205). In suchembodiments, the PSS 110 can perform fuzzy logic matching between thename extracted from the payment card information and the one or morenames included in the list associated with the POS system 120. In someembodiments, the PSS 110 associates the list of names with a particularlocation of a particular merchant. For example, the PSS 110 canassociate the list of names with a coffee shop's location in Palo Alto,Calif., where that coffee shop is part of a national franchise of coffeeshops operated by a coffee shop merchant (e.g., coffee shop person orcompany). In some embodiments, the PSS 110 associates the list of nameswith a particular merchant, regardless of location. For example, the PSS110 can associate the list of names with a coffee shop merchant, where apromotional offer in a referral can be redeemed at any coffee shopoperated by that coffee shop merchant. In some embodiments, the list ofnames is maintained by the POS system 120 and transmitted to the PSS 110for processing the redemption of the promotional offers included inreferrals.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 utilizes the payment card informationto identify additional information about the cardholder (i.e., thecustomer in the second transaction), such as an email address or atelephone number. Using this additional information, the PSS 110 canimprove its use of fuzzy logic to identify the user 102 and/or thereferral. Upon verification of the user 102 (and the referral), the PSS110 causes execution of a redemption processing of the promotional offerincluded in the referral.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 detects the indication of a redemptionrequest by receiving a promotional offer code from the POS system 120.In some embodiments, the PSS 110 detects the indication of theredemption request by detecting a promotional offer code from thetransaction data (associated with the second transaction) that has beenreceived from the POS system 120. The promotional offer code isassociated with the promotional offer included in the referral. In someembodiments, the promotional offer code is obtained via a scan at thePOS system 120, and transmitted onto the internetwork 108, via thepayment service application installed on the POS system 120, to the PSS110. In some embodiments, the promotional offer code is obtained via ascan at the POS system 120, and transmitted to the PSS 110 through anupload via an online portal associated with the PSS 110 (e.g., a webinterface of a website hosted by the PSS 110). Upon receiving thepromotional offer code, the PSS 110 performs a database lookup toidentify a referral that includes a promotional offer having thepromotional offer code. Upon identification of such referral, the PSS110 causes execution of a redemption processing of the promotionaloffer.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process involves thePSS 110 communicating the identification of the referral to the POSsystem 120 (e.g., by communicating with the payment service applicationinstalled thereon). The POS system 120, in turn, applies a deduction tothe transaction amount of the second transaction for the user 102, asindicated by step 212A.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process occurspost-transaction, where the PSS 110 communicates with the financialsystem 130 to cause an amount to be credited back into a payment accountof the payment card of the user 102, as indicated by step 212B. In someembodiments, the amount can be transferred from a payment account of thePSS 110 to the payment account associated with the payment card of theuser 102. In some embodiments, the amount can be transferred from apayment account of the merchant to the payment account associated withthe payment card of the user 102.

In some embodiments, execution of the redemption process occurspost-transaction, where the PSS 110 communicates with the financialsystem 130 to void and/or edit a payment authorization requestassociated with the payment card of the user 102. In particular, the PSStransmits a request to edit the amount (e.g., void or reduce therequested amount) in the already submitted payment authorization request(e.g., as discussed in step 203A).

In some embodiments, the redemption process occurs post-transactionbased on an initiation of the second user 102. For example, the seconduser 102 receives an electronic receipt for the second transaction withthe merchant, where the electronic receipt is generated and sent by thePSS 110. In such receipt, the second user 102 is notified of thereferral with a message prompting the second user 102 to redeem thepromotional offer included in the referral (e.g., “Make cup of Coffee Yfree!”). The notification can be a third referral interface elementthat, upon being activated, causes the referral to be applied to thesecond transaction. In some embodiments, upon receiving an indicationthat the second user 102 wishes to apply the referral (i.e., anindication of a redemption request by the second user 102) (e.g., aclick on a link or button displayed by the third referral interfaceelement), the PSS 110 communicates with the financial system 130associated with the payment card of the user 102 to cause an amount tobe credited back into a payment account of that payment card.

Regarding the process of FIG. 2, while the various steps, blocks orsub-processes are presented in a given order, alternative embodimentscan perform routines having steps, or employ systems having steps,blocks or sub-processes, in a different order, and some steps,sub-processes or blocks can be deleted, moved, added, subdivided,combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or sub-combinations.Each of these steps, blocks or sub-processes can be implemented in avariety of different ways. Also, while steps, sub-processes or blocksare at times shown as being performed in series, some steps,sub-processes or blocks can instead be performed in parallel, or can beperformed at different times as will be recognized by a person ofordinary skill in the art. Further any specific numbers noted herein areonly examples: alternative implementations can employ differing valuesor ranges.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of components of a payment service system 500for implementing the referral technology. In some embodiments, thepayment service system 500 (hereinafter, “PSS 500”) can be a componentor sub-system of the PSS 110. Alternately, the PSS 110 can beimplemented on a separate computing system (e.g., on a separate serveror servers). In some embodiments, the PSS 500 can be the PSS 110. ThePSS 500 includes a network interface 502, one or more processors 504, agraphical user interface (GUI) generation component 506, a referralgeneration component 508, a referral registration component 510, aredemption component 512, and an accounting component 514. In someembodiments, the PSS 500 also includes a user account database 516(hereinafter, “DB 516”), a financial account database 518 (hereinafter,“DB 518”), and a transaction history database 520 (hereinafter, “DB520”).

The referral generation component 508 is triggered whenever the PSS 500receives (e.g., via the network interface 502) an indication of atransaction executed at a merchant's POS system. In some embodiments,the indication can be received from the POS system itself (e.g., via apayment service application associated with the PSS 500). In someembodiments, the indication can be received from a card payment network(e.g., Visa®, MasterCard®, Amex®, etc.). In such embodiments, the cardpayment network and the payment service business enterprise (thatemploys the PSS 500) can pre-establish a business relationship thatinvolves their mutually shared customers. Based on this relationship,the PSS 500 sends a list of payment cards of its customers to a computersystem of the card payment network for storage in a whitelist database.When a transaction is initiated at a POS system using a card supplied bythe card payment network, the computer system of the card paymentnetwork receives the transaction data and payment authorization requestfor that transaction, and immediately determines whether the card isidentified in the whitelist database. If the whitelist database includesa payment account associated with the card, the computer system of thecard payment network transmits the indication of the transaction to thePSS 500.

In some embodiments, the indication (sent from either the POS system orthe computer system of the card payment network) includes informationrelated to the transaction, including the transaction information andany other information received from the customer in the transaction,such as contact information (e.g., telephone number) at which to receivea receipt for the transaction. Based on this transaction data, thereferral generation component 508 of the PSS 500 initiates the processto generate the referral (e.g., prompts a referrer to submit refereeinformation, generates the referral, and sends the referral to thereferee).

The referral registration component 510 facilitates the registration ofthe referral to the referrer and the referee. That is, the referralregistration component 510 stores the referral in association with thereferrer and in association with the referee, respectively. Inparticular, upon the referrer's submission of the referee information(and/or referrer information) to the PSS 500, the referral registrationcomponent 510 stores the referral in association with at least a portionof the information related to the transaction between the referrer andthe merchant (e.g., referrer's payment card information, referrer'scontact information (e.g., telephone number), transaction ID, itemdescription, etc.). Such storing of the association constitutes a“registration” of the referrer to the referral. Further, upon thereferee's acceptance of the promotional offer (and essentially thereferral), the referral registration component 510 stores the referralin association with the referee information (e.g., telephone number)and/or the referee's payment card information. Such storing of theassociation constitutes a “registration” of the referee to the referral.

The redemption component 512 facilitates the redemption processing ofthe promotional offer included in the referral. The redemption component512 is triggered whenever the PSS 500 receives (e.g., via the networkinterface 502) an indication of a transaction executed at a merchant'sPOS system. As discussed above, the PSS 500 can receive the indicationfrom the POS system itself or from the computer system of the cardpayment network, where the indication includes, among others,transaction information.

In some embodiments, where the indication is received from the POSsystem, the redemption component 512, upon identifying the customer hasregistered for a referral (i.e., accepted the promotional offer includedin the referral), causes an amount to be deducted from the transactionamount charged for the transaction, where the amount is indicative of apromotional offer value associated with the referral. In particular, theredemption component 512 first checks one or more database tables (e.g.,DB 516, DB 518, and/or DB 520) to determine whether the customerassociated with the transaction has registered for a referral. Forexample, if the customer's payment card information already exists inthe database, and it is associated with an email address that isassociated with a referral in the database, then the promotional offerincluded in that referral will be applied. If, for example, the paymentcard information does not exist in the database, the redemptioncomponent 512 does not alert the POS system of any referral (i.e., theprocess ends).

In some embodiments, the redemption component 512 performs an additionalstep to determine referral registration based on fuzzy logic, even ifthe payment card information does not exist in the database. In suchembodiments, the redemption component 512 correlates informationincluded in the information received from the POS system with thereferee information provided by the referrer. For example, theredemption component 512 determines if a cardholder name (from thetransaction information) matches the name of the referee (from thereferee information). In another example, the redemption component 512determines if the customer's email address (provided to receive areceipt) matches the email address of the referee (from the refereeinformation). If a match is found, the redemption component 512 causesthe deduction to take place at the POS system. Note that the term“match” as used here may not necessarily require an exact match.

Upon identification of the referral, the redemption component 512notifies the accounting component 514. The accounting component 514, viathe network interface 502, communicates with the payment serviceapplication installed on the POS system to cause the deduction(indicative of the promotional value) to be applied at the POS system.

In some embodiments, where the indication is received from the POSsystem, the redemption component 512 applies the promotional valuepost-transaction. In such embodiments, the redemption component 512,upon identification of the referral, notifies the accounting component514, which, in turn, communicates with a financial system associatedwith the payment card of the identified referee. In particular, theaccounting component 514 transmits (e.g., via the network interface 502over a wired or wireless communication network) a request to thefinancial system to credit a financial/payment account associated withthe payment card with an amount indicative of the promotional value. Insome embodiments, the accounting component 514 communicates with thefinancial system to request a void and/or an edit of the transactionamount included in the payment authorization request sent for thetransaction, where the void and/or edited amount is indicative of thepromotional value.

In some embodiments, where the indication is received from the cardpayment network, the PSS 500 can periodically send a list of paymentcards of customers that have accepted referrals generated by the PSS500. Whenever a transaction is initiated at a POS system using a cardthat is on the list of payment cards, the computer system of the cardpayment network, which receives the payment authorization request forthat transaction, forwards to the PSS 500 the transaction informationalong with a message indicating the payment card is associated with areferral (as indicated by the database). Upon receiving the message, theredemption component 512 notifies the accounting component 514. Theaccounting component 514 communicates with a financial system associatedwith the payment card of the identified referee to request an amountindicative of the promotional value to be credited back to afinancial/payment account associated with the payment card. In someembodiments, the accounting component 514 communicates with thefinancial system to request a void and/or an edit of the transactionamount included in the payment authorization request sent for thetransaction.

The graphical user interface (GUI) generation component 506 generatesone or more GUI screens that allow for interface with a user, such as amerchant or a customer (e.g., user 101 or 102 of FIG. 1). In someembodiments, the GUI generation component 506 generates the first,second, and third referral interfaces for facilitating referrals.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of database tables 602, 604, 606 that aremaintained by a payment service system (e.g., PSS 110 of FIG. 1) tofacilitate a referral, in accordance with some embodiments. The paymentservice system can access one or more of the database tables 602, 604,606 to retrieve and/or store data associated with one or more referrals.In some embodiments, the database tables 602, 604, 606 can be stored inone or more of the databases 516, 518, and 520 of FIG. 5.

The database table 602 can store various fields of information such as areferral identifier (ID), one or more customer identifiers (IDs) (e.g.,email address, phone number, device identifier, mobile applicationidentifier, etc.), a customer name, billing address, and/or the like.The database table 604 can include various fields of information such asa customer identifier, a payment card/account number (e.g., primaryaccount number or PAN), an issuer, an expiration date, a billingaddress, a card/account type, and/or the like. The database table 606can include various fields of information such as a transactionidentifier, customer identifier, date, merchant name, amount,product/service item names/codes, and/or the like. Various otherdatabase tables may also be accessed by the payment service system.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a screen display 700 that can begenerated by a referee's computing device (e.g., computing device 105 ofFIG. 1) to enable redemption of a referral, in accordance with someembodiments. The display 700 presents to the referee transactioninformation of a transaction at “B Café,” along with a component 702that enables the referee to redeem an item purchased in thattransaction. For example, the component 702 can display a message “ClickHere to Make ‘Item 1’ Free!” The “free” item can be a promotion includedin a referral sent to the referee from a referrer and accepted by thereferee. The referee can select or “click” the component 702 to indicatehe/she wishes to apply the “free” promotion.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a computer system as may be used toimplement features of some of the embodiments. The computing system 800may include one or more central processing units (“processors”) 802,memory 804, input/output devices 812 (e.g., keyboard and pointingdevices, display devices), storage devices 808 (e.g., disk drives), andnetwork interface 810 that is connected to an interconnect 806. Theinterconnect 806 is illustrated as an abstraction that represents anyone or more separate physical buses, point to point connections, or bothconnected by appropriate bridges, adapters, or controllers.

The memory 804 and storage devices 808 are computer-readable storagemedia that may store instructions that implement at least portions ofthe various embodiments. In addition, the data structures and messagestructures may be stored or transmitted via a data transmission medium,e.g., a signal on a communications link. Various communications linksmay be used, e.g., the Internet, a local area network, a wide areanetwork, or a point-to-point dial-up connection. Thus, computer readablemedia can include computer-readable storage media (e.g., “nontransitory” media) and computer-readable transmission media.

The instructions stored in memory 804 can be implemented as softwareand/or firmware to program the processor(s) 802 to carry out actionsdescribed above. In some embodiments, such software or firmware may beinitially provided to the processing system 800 by downloading it from aremote system through the computing system 800 (e.g., via networkinterface 810).

Unless contrary to physical possibility, it is envisioned that (i) themethods/steps described herein may be performed in any sequence and/orin any combination, and that (ii) the components of respectiveembodiments may be combined in any manner.

The machine-implemented operations described above can be implemented byprogrammable circuitry programmed/configured by software and/orfirmware, or entirely by special-purpose circuitry, or by a combinationof such forms. Such special-purpose circuitry (if any) can be in theform of, for example, one or more application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), etc.

Software used to implement the techniques introduced here may be storedon a machine-readable storage medium and may be executed by one or moregeneral-purpose or special-purpose programmable microprocessors. A“machine-readable medium”, as the term is used herein, includes anymechanism that can store information in a form accessible by a machine(a machine may be, for example, a computer, network device, cellularphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), manufacturing tool, any devicewith one or more processors, etc.). For example, a machine-accessiblemedium includes recordable/non-recordable media (e.g., read-only memory(ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; opticalstorage media; flash memory devices; etc.), etc.

Note that any and all of the embodiments described above can be combinedwith each other, except to the extent that it may be stated otherwiseabove or to the extent that any such embodiments might be mutuallyexclusive in function and/or structure. Further, although the referraltechnology has been described with reference to specific exemplaryembodiments, it will be recognized that the referral technology is notlimited to the embodiments described, but can be practiced withmodification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appendedclaims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regardedin an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: one or more processors; anetworking interface to communicate with: a first point-of-sale (POS)system associated with a first merchant, the first POS system includinga payment instrument reader device, and a second POS system associatedwith a second merchant; and a storage device storing instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, configure the system toperform operations comprising: receiving, via the networking interfacefrom the first POS device, first transaction information including anindication of a first product and first payment card informationcollected by the payment instrument reader; receiving an acceptancemessage indicating a promotional offer for a second product associatedwith the first product; generating first data associating, at leastpartly in response to receiving the acceptance message, the firstpayment card information with the promotional offer for the secondproduct; receiving, via the networking interface from the second POSdevice, second transaction information including an indication of thesecond product and the first payment card information; generating, basedat least in part on the first data associating the first payment cardinformation with the promotional offer for the second product, seconddata indicating that the second transaction information includes theindication of the second product; and transmitting, based at least inpart on the second data and via the networking interface to the secondPOS device, instructions to apply a deduction to a transaction amountassociated with second product included in the second transactioninformation, the instructions causing an application associated with thesecond POS device to apply the deduction.
 2. The system as claim 1recites, wherein: the acceptance message further indicates contactinformation; and the operations further comprise: transmitting, based atleast in part on the contact information, a first receipt to a firstcustomer device associated with a first customer, the first receiptindicating at least some of the first transaction information; andtransmitting, based at least in part on the contact information, asecond receipt to the first customer device associated with the firstcustomer, the second receipt indicating at least some of the secondtransaction information.
 3. The system as claim 1 recites, wherein: theacceptance message further indicates recipient information; and theoperations further comprise: transmitting, based at least in part on therecipient information, an indication of the promotional offer to asecond customer device associated with a second customer; receiving asecond acceptance from the second customer device, the second acceptanceindicating the promotional offer and including second payment cardinformation; associating, at least partly in response to receiving theacceptance message, the second payment card information with thepromotional offer; receiving, via the networking interface from thefirst POS device or the second POS device, third transaction informationincluding the second payment card information; and transmitting, basedat least in part on determining that the second payment card informationand the third transaction information is associated with the promotionaloffer and via the networking interface to the first POS device or thesecond POS device, instructions to apply the deduction to a secondtransaction amount associated with the third transaction information. 4.The system as claim 3 recites, wherein the operations further comprisedetermining, at least partly in response to determining that the thirdtransaction information is associated with the promotional offer, that afirst user, associated with the first payment card information, referredthe promotional offer to a second user, associated with the secondpayment card information.
 5. The system as claim 4 recites, wherein theoperations further comprise: associating a referral payment amount withthe first payment card information; receiving fourth transaction data,via the networking interface from the first POS device or the second POSdevice, fourth transaction information including the first payment cardinformation; and transmitting, via the network interface to the firstPOS device or the second POS device, instructions to apply the referralpayment amount to the further transaction data.
 6. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: receive, from a first POS device that includes a paymentcard reader, first transaction information including an indication of afirst item, wherein the first POS device is associated with a firstmerchant; receive, from the first POS device or a first user device, afirst acceptance indicating a promotional offer for the first item or asecond item associated with the first item and recipient informationassociated with a second user; generate first data associating, based atleast in part on receiving the first acceptance, the promotional offerwith at least a portion of the first transaction information associatedwith the first item; transmit, to a second user device associated withthe second user and based at least in part on receiving the recipientinformation, a referral message indicating the promotional offer;receive, from the second user device, a second acceptance; generatesecond data associating, based at least in part on receiving the secondacceptance, the promotional offer with the recipient information;receive, from the first POS device or a second POS device associatedwith a second merchant, second transaction information including anindication of the first item or the second item; determine that thesecond transaction information corresponds to the portion of the firsttransaction information associated with the first item or at least aportion of the recipient information; and transmit, based at least inpart on the determining and to the first POS device or the second POSdevice, instructions to apply a deduction associated with thepromotional offer to a transaction amount associated with the first itemor the second item included in the second transaction information beforeexecution of the second transaction is completed, the instructionscausing an application associated with the first POS device or thesecond POS device to apply the deduction.
 7. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium as claim 6 recites, wherein: the secondacceptance indicates second payment card information; the secondtransaction information includes at least the portion of the recipientinformation; and the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to transmit, to the first POS device or the second POS deviceand based at least in part on the determining, the second payment cardinformation and instructions to process the transaction amount, less thededuction, using the second payment card information.
 8. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as claim 7 recites, wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processors to: determine,based at least in part on determining that the second transactioninformation corresponds to the portion of the recipient information,that the first user referred the second user; and associate, based atleast in part on the first user referring the second user, a paymentcredit with the first payment card information.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium as claim 7 recites, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the one or more processors to: receive, from the first POSdevice or the second POS device, third transaction data; determine thatthird transaction data is associated with the first user; and transmit,to the first POS device or the second POS device, instructions to applythe payment credit to a transaction amount associated with the thirdtransaction data.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium asclaim 6 recites, the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessors to: receive, from the first POS device or the first userdevice, contact information associated with the first user; and storethe contact information in association with the first payment cardinformation.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as claim 10recites, wherein: the second transaction information is received fromthe second POS device associated with the second merchant; theinstructions further cause the one or more processors to: determine thatthe second transaction information indicates at least part of thecontact information associated with the first user; and transmit, to thesecond POS device and based at least in part on the determining that thesecond transaction information indicates at least part of the contactinformation, the first payment card information and instructions toprocess the transaction amount, less the deduction, using the firstpayment card information.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium as claim 6 recites, wherein the instructions further cause theone or more processors to generate and transmit an electronic receipt tothe first user device, the electronic receipt being associated with thefirst transaction information and including a first interface element,wherein: the first interface element is configured to cause the firstuser device to prompt the first user to input the recipient informationto transmit a referral message to the second user device, and thereceiving the acceptance is based at least in part on activation of thefirst interface element.
 13. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving, by a server computer operated as part of a payment servicesystem (PSS), via a computer network, from a first point-of-sale (POS)system associated with a first merchant, first transaction informationassociated with a first transaction executed at the first POS systembetween a first user and the first merchant and indicating first paymentcard information, the first POS system associated with a first cardreader device at a physical location of the first merchant; receiving,by the server computer via the computer network, contact informationassociated with the first user; generating first data associating thecontact information with the first payment card information; receiving,by the server computer via the computer network from a second POS systemassociated with a second merchant at a second physical location, secondtransaction information associated with a second transaction executed atthe second POS system; determining, based at least in part on the firstdata, that the second transaction information is associated with thefirst user; and transmitting, to the second POS system via the computernetwork and based at least in part on determining that the secondtransaction information is associated with the first user, the firstpayment card information and instructions to process the secondtransaction using the first payment card information, the instructionscausing an application of the second POS system to process the secondtransaction using the first payment card information.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method as claim 13 recites, further comprising:transmitting, via the computer network to a first user device of thefirst user and based at least in part on the contact information, afirst electronic receipt indicating at least part of the firsttransaction information and a second electronic receipt indicating atleast part of the second transaction information.
 15. Thecomputer-implemented method as claim 13 recites, further comprising:transmitting, via the computer network to a first user device of thefirst user and based at least in part on the contact information, afirst electronic receipt indicating at least part of the firsttransaction information and including a first interface element,wherein: the first interface element is configured to cause the firstuser device to prompt the first user to select a promotional offer fromamong multiple promotional offers and input recipient information totransmit a referral message to a second user device, and the receivingthe acceptance is based at least in part on activation of the firstinterface element.
 16. The computer-implemented method as claim 15recites, further comprising: receiving, by the server computer via thecomputer network from the first user device, a selection of thepromotional offer and the recipient information.
 17. Thecomputer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, further comprising:associating the first payment card information with the promotionaloffer; and wherein: determining that the second transaction informationis associated with the first user further includes that the promotionaloffer is available to the first user, and transmitting the instructionsincludes transmitting transactions to apply a deduction associated withthe promotional offer to the first transaction.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method as claim 16 recites, further comprising:generating, by the server computer, and transmitting, via the computernetwork and based at least in part on receiving the recipientinformation, to a second user device of a second user, an indication ofthe promotional offer; receiving, by the server computer and from thesecond device via the computer network, an acceptance of the promotionaloffer and second payment information; receiving, by the server computervia the computer network from the first payment service application orthe second POS system, third payment information associated with a thirdtransaction executed at the first POS system or the second POS system;determining that the third transaction information is associated withthe second user; transmitting, to the first POS system or the second POSsystem via the computer network and based at least in part ondetermining that the second transaction information is associated withthe second user, the second payment card information and instructions toprocess the third transaction using the first payment card informationafter applying the deduction to the third transaction.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method as claim 18 recites, further comprising:determining, based at least in part on determining that the thirdtransaction information is associated with the second user, that thefirst user referred the second user; and associating, based at least inpart on the first user referring the second user, a payment credit withthe first payment card information.
 20. The computer-implemented methodas claim 18 recites, wherein determining that the third transactioninformation is associated with the second user includes determining thatthe transaction information includes at least part of the recipientinformation.